Treatment of cream for butter making



purpose of producing more of they desirable Patented May 2, 1933 UNITEDSTATES PATENT orrics cnnrron may ransons, or cmcaoo, rumors, assmnon acolumn;

- or 01110400, more, a coarona'rron or rumors rm'rm'r or ron nurrnn melo Drawing.

This invention relates to improvements in the treatment of cream forbutter making, and more particularly to the treatment of oil'- flavoredcream for the production therefrom of high grade cream and high gradebutter. In the manufacture of butter mar culture is usually added to thecream forthe butter flavor and aroma in the resulting butter. Aftercream has been properly ripened-by means of these starter cultures, itis churned until the milk fatfglobules coalesceinto butter, the serumseparating into a separate portion called buttermilk. The buttermilk isremoved and the butter granules are then washed and worked into butter.

, The butter which is made from fresh cream,

.and from cream which has been. properly handled, is ahigh grade butter;but butter which is made by churning cit-flavored cream, which has beenimproperly handled, and which has both sour and putrefactive flavors,will ordinarily be considered a lower quality or grade of butter and itsvalue maybe several 'cents a pound under that of top grade butter. Thetype of butter made from such off-flavored cream therefore represents aconsiderableeconomic loss.

The present invention provides an improved method of treati suchofflflavored cream whereby it is possi leto remove the ofi-flavors tosuch an extent that they are unobjectionable, leaving the cream in muchthe same condition as it was originally, that is, in regard to flavor,aroma and composition.

In explanation of the changes which produce an off-flavored cream, itmay be pointed out that milk and cream are emulsions of milk fat in milkserum, the latter consisting of milk proteins, milk albumen, milk salts,milk sugar, vitamins, enzymes, etc. Fresh milk or cream is a sweetpleasant liquid substanceof excellent food quality. But when cream,after it has been separated from the milk, or when milk beforeseparation of the cream therefrom, is handled or held under adversetemperature conditions, it undergoes chemical and biological changes,the latter being of a two-fold nature, i. e. soaring and stituents.

Application fled January 17, 1831., Serial No. 509,549.

putrefaction. Souring results from the-dc velopment of lactic acidformed by the growth and'activity of certain micro organisms upon milksugar. The action of these bacteria under favorable conditions is veryrapid and in a relatively short time theyare able to convert a largeportion of the milk sugar into lactic acid, which reacts upon theproteins, especially the casein, and promotes coagulation or clotting.The second form of decomposition is due to the action of microscop1corganisms, ordinar ly known as putrifying bacteria, uponthe proteins,with resulting decomposition of the proteins and the formation ofproducts which have disagreeable flavors and aromas. Cream which has'beenimproperl handled will usually develop into an ofiavoredproducthaving both sour and utrefactive flavors.

I have foun that it is possible to remove the objectionable off-flavorsfrom such an off-flavored cream by admixing it with. good flavoredbuttermilk, such as is produced from fresh sweet cream in the mannerabove described, treating the mixture with a suitable neutralizing agentand then separating the mixture by means of a cream separator-to give aconcentrated product with a h' h percentage of butter fat, and thendiluting the concentrated cream with milk or buttermilk to asuitabledilution for churning, after which the cream is treated for themanufac-- ture of butter therefrom in the ordinary manner. a

The dilution of the off-flavored cream with high grade buttermilkdilutes the serum content of the cream and appears to dissolveconstituents or otherwise act'upon the constituents imparting anoff-flavor, so that the concentrated cream subsequentl separated fromthe diluted mixture is free or largely so, from the objectionableoff-flavored con- These off-flavored constituents are constituentsformed from the milk serum by the action of the microscopic organismsupon the milk-sugar and the milk proteins, while the milk fat undergoeslittle if any change. Accordin 1y, by dissolving or otherwise removing te objectionable elf-flavored constituents, the greater part of theoff-flavored constituents can be removed from the diluted cream when itis subjected to. separation and a concentrated cream product formedtherem. I p 5 'The buttermilk which is admixed with the off-flavoredcream is high grade buttermilk such as that produced from ripened creamchurnings. It has a lactic flavor racticall equivalent to that of theregular utter cu ture and it possesses the so called delicate anddesirable butter flavor and aroma.

In the practice of the present invention, this good favored buttermilkis admixed with the off-flavored cream in the proportions of I about onepart of the cream to from one to' five parts of the buttermilk. Theuantity of the buttermilk to be used. depen upon the type of cream beingtreated. If a creain possesses considerable oii-flavor, the amount ofbuttermilk may be as much as five parts to one art of the cream ;-whileif the cream tralizing agent is important iii-order that the caseinmaybe held in suspension in the milk serum during separation of thediluted cream in a cream separator; otherwise, during theseparatingoperation, some of the casein will be deposited in theseparator discs andbowl as a s udgewhich soon 010 up the machine.

It is ossible to treat the a ixture of, cream and uttermilk with eithercaustic soda "or 9 sodium carbonate for the purpose of dissolving thesuspended casein, but if these. re-

agents are use alonethe mixture must be made distinctly alkaline-andasomewhat foreign favor may be im arted to the resulting 4 cream. I'have foun however, that ifthe caustic soda or sodium carbonate, solutionhas mixed with it about 20% of dior tri- -sodium phosphate, sodiumcitrate, or sodium tartrate, it is not necessary to use as'much eignflavors can be avoided.

Accordingly, in practicing. the invention, it is advantageous to makeuse of a neutralizing agent consisting of about four parts of causticsoda, or its equivalent of sodium carbonate, and about one part ofsodium citrate sodium tartrate, or sodium phosphate. 1? consider thetri-sodium phosphate preferable, because of its cheapness, -'to thedisodium phosphate; The citrate, tartrate and phosphate mentioned arecasein solvents, and, when used in connection with. the caustic soda orsodium carbonate solution, aid in holding or maintaining the casein incolloidal sus- [used alone, and that the imparting'of for I nsion duringthe separating. operation.

ile certain neutralizing agents other than caustic soda may also beused, my investito effect the separating operation at a pH of as low asabout 6.0, although I consider it preferableusually to work at a pHvalue of about 7.0.

After the mixture of cream and buttermilk has been neutralized, it isheated to about 100 F. and then separated in the usual manne'r by meansof a cream separator. Thisseparator should be so designed andconstructed as to yield a concentrated cream containing around 60 to ofbutter fat.

relatively smaller admixture of serum of the character originallypresent in the oil flavored cream.

The separated concentrated cream is then diluted to a butter fat contentsuitable for churning, for example, to about 30 to 35% butter fat, byaddition of buttermilk, whole' milk, skim milk, or reconstructed milk.If a high quality buttermilk from ripened cream is used, no additionalstarter culture may be needed. If, however, whole milk or .skim milk. orreconstructed milk is used to dilute the concentrated cream, a starterculture is essential in order to impart the desirable butter flavor andaroma, as well as to build upthe acids to the proper point beforechurning'. The diluted cream is then handled and: churned in the usualmanner, and results in the production of a high grade butter.

It will be evident that the amount of buttermilk admixed with theoff-flavored cream can be varied, for example, from one up to I fiveparts of buttermilk for one part of cream. 50 of the caustic soda aswhen caustic soda is Th e greater the amount of buttermilk added to thecream, the greater the dilution of the serum admixed with the butterfat. For

example, if an off-flavored cream is treated which contains 32% ofbutter fat, there will be present about 68% of the ofi-flavored serum.If an equal amount of high grade buttermilk is admixed with theoil-flavored and churned and the butter fatglobules coalesced intobutter, the butter will be sufliciently free from any objectionableofl-flavor, and

will have imparted toit the desirable butter flavor and aroma from theripening treatment so that it will be a high grade butter.

When the cream treated has a larger proportion of buttermilk admixedwith it before the concentratin or separating treatment, the percentage0 off-flavored serum remaining in the concentrated cream will'be stillfurther reduced. For example, if a cream containing 32% of butter fat isdiluted with five times its volume of high grade buttermilk and thediluted mixture-then separated to form a concentrated creamcontainingaround 70% of butter fat, only about 3% of the originalofl-flavored serum will be present in the resultin 70% cream, and thissmall percentage wil be diluted withseveral times 1ts volume of theadmixed buttermilk,.- and still more highly diluted with the added milkor buttermilk when the concentrated'cream is diluted before churning. 7It will thus be seen that the present invention provides an improvedmethod of treating ofl-flavored cream for the production of high gradecream and butter therefrom, this treatment involving the dilution of theoil'- flavored cream with buttermilk for the pur; pose of dissolving andremoving and diluting the off-flavors, followed by separation of thediluted cream to give a concentratedcream containing a relativelyverysmallpercentage of the off-flavored serum remaining with it in adiluted state, which dilution is. further increased by the dilution ofthe concentrated cream before churning.

It will further be seen that the resent invention includes a treatmentof t e diluted cream, diluted withthe high grade buttermilk, withalkaline substances which'neutraliie the excess acidity and whichpromote the solution or colloidal sus nsion of the roteins in such amanner t at the butter. iht may be separated from the serum withoutundue depositionof sludge in the separatorduring the separatingtreatment.

I am aware that attempts have been made to wash cream with water, butthe present method has important advant s over such water washing. Thebuttermi used for diluting cream in'the present process has a pronounceddissolving action on the ofi-' production of butter therefrom.

butter fat in a highly concentrated state admixed with serum whichcontains only a small percentage of the original ofl-flavored serum. Thesolvent action of buttermilk for the ofiflavored constituents is notonly superior to that of water, but the buttermilkis itself similar toorthe equivalent of a starter and provides ,a serum of high qualitadmixed with a relatively small amount 0 the original serum. p

,I am also aware that attempts have been. made to separate butter fatfrom cream with the idea that the butter fat could be transported at alower cost over comparatively longdistances from the producing points tothe centralizing points, but such a separated butter fat product has tobe reconstructed back into cream before it can be used, which is notthecase with the process of the present invention where the cream isconverted from an off-flavored cream to a cream of high uality welladapted for the manufacture of igh grade butter therefrom by ripeningand churning in the usual manner.

I claim:

1. The improvement in the treatment of off-flavored cream, whichcomprisesadmix:

ing the cream with buttermilk, separating the 1 centrated cream product,diluting the concentrated cream with milk or buttermilk and churning theresulting diluted cream forthe 2. The improvement -'n the treatment ofoff-flavored cream, which comprises diluting the cream with an amount ofbuttermilk equal to or greater than the amount of the cream and searating the diluted mixture to remove t e eater part of the admixedserum from the utter fat and to give a cream admixed with a serum thegreater part of which is made up of the added buttermilk.

3. The improvement in the treatment of off-flavored cream, whichcomprises diluting the cream with an equal or greater amount ofbuttermilk, adding to the mixture a neutralizing agent to promotesuspension or solution of proteins and to'give a pH value of about 6.0to 8.0, and separating the resulting diluted and neutralized cream toremove the greater part of the serum therefrom.

4. The improvement in the treatment of admixed off-flavored cream'andbuttermilk,

which comprises adding thereto a nuetralizing a at to bring the mixtureto a pH value of 5. The improvement in the treatment of a mixture ofoff-flavored cream and buttermilk,

' which comprises addin thereto a neutralizing agent consisting 0 aboutfour arts of caustic soda or its equivalent of sodium carbonateand onepart of sodium'citrate, sodium tartrate or sodium phosphate, to bringthe mixture to a pH value of between 6.0 and 8.0, and separating theresulting mixture to remove thegreater part of the serum therefrom;

6. The improvement in the treatment of off-flavored cream, whichcomprisbs admixing the cream with an equal or greater amount ofbuttermilk, adding a neutralizing agentto give a pH value of around 6.0to 8.0 and to promote solution or suspension of proteins in. themixture, separating the resulting mixture to remove the greater part ofthe serum therefrom and to give a concentrated cream containing a highpercentage of butter fat, di luting the concentrated cream and churningthe same to make butter therefrom. I .5

7. The improvement in the treatment of ofiflavored cream, whichcomprises admixing the same with an equal or greater amount ofbuttermilk, treating the mixture with a neutralizing agent to bring itto a pH value of around 6.0 to 8.0, separating'the mixture to give aconcentrated cream containing around to'70%' of butter fat, diluting theconcentrated cream with buttermilk or milk,

- ripening the cream and churning the same.

8. The improvement in the treatmentof off-flavored cream, whichcomprises di'lutin the same with'an equalor greater amount 0 buttermilk,neutralizing the'excess acidity of the mixture with a neutralizing agentto give a pH value of around 6.0 to 8.0, separating the diluted cream toform a concentrated cream having a high content of butter fat, dilutingthe concentrated cream with high quality buttermilk from fipened creamwhich will serve a s a starter, ripenin the cream ind churning thesameto orm utter thererom.

In testimon whereof I aflix my si ature.

CLIN ON HENRY PA ONS.

